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Have you ever wondered how to increase independence through the various apps and devices available for the blind? Blind Vet Tech’s Tech Capabilities offers suggestions to achieve these goals.

When cellular phones first gained popularity, we never needed to worry about telemarketers hounding us. Things definitely changed as many of us solely rely on smart phones for personal to business functions. This results in telemarketers and other entities calling us. Whenever I receive a call from an unknown number or unlisted number, I quickly dismiss the call and let. It go to voice mail. Unfortunately when the entity leaves a message, I really hesitate to listen to it. Apple added a nice feature that transcribes your voice mail automatically. Yes, Google Talk offered this feature for a number of years, and even sends you an email with the transcribed message, so its nice that Apple caught up. Here is how you can listen to a transcribed voice mail message. Please note , I am using an iPhone 8 running iOS 11.

Lock Screen

Place Voice Over’s focus on the notification for the voice mail message

Swipe downwards with the rotor set to action to More and double tap

Voice Over will start reading the message automatically

Phone app

You first need to listen to the message in the Voice Mail tab

Place Voice Over’s focus on the number or caller’s name and swipe right twice

Voice will automatically start reading the message

Hope you enjoyed learning how to read a transcribed voice mail message in iOS through Blind Vet Tech’s Tech Capabilities.

Have you ever wondered how to increase independence through the various apps and devices available for the blind? Blind Vet Tech’s Tech Capabilities offers suggestions to achieve these goals.

PDF’s functions as the bane for every aspect of our digital lives. Whether you need to read an instructional manual, apply for a job, review research or proposals, or even apply for benefits, you cannot avoid them. Sometimes you just need to be able to grab a PDF and listen to it. Voice Dream Reader accomplishes this goal flawlessly. Even better yet, you can place a PDF in the Loader folder, and it will magically appear on your iPhone’s bookshelf. Here is how.

This is an announcement for the Blind Vet Tech Monthly Tech Talk for September 21. This month we turn our attention towards our new conferencing platform, Zoom.us and what is new in iOS 11. Zoom is a highly accessible conferencing platform allowing participants to connect via their computers, smart phones, or through a dial in number, see below for how to do this and coming shortcut kets.

Apple releases iOS 11 on September 19, and we are super excited to share what we know. Voice Over received many updates and tweaks, earning our trust and approval. The couple of updates exciting us include the ability to fill out PDF’s, recognize a bit of text in images through a built into Voice Over OCR, find facial features in Photos, and ability to drag and drop multiple items. Zoom users will enjoy the ability to place your finger on the menu bar and automatically zoom into it without Zoom on, clean up of the Control Center for easier navigation, and the easier to see Dock and app switchers.

Have you ever wondered how to increase independence through the various apps and devices available for the blind? Blind Vet Tech’s Tech Capabilities offers suggestions to achieve these goals.

From assembling a shopping list, traveling to the store, and locating each item, shopping poses several barriers for the blind. Combine Microsoft’s SeeingAI,AIRA, Uber, and your iPhone, and you can quickly get on with your day. Here is how.

This is an announcement for the Blind Vet Tech Monthly MacOS Talk for September 14. This call enables individuals to learn more about MacOS and how integrated features like Voice Over and Zoom may be applied to achieve computing goals. The session will be open for participants’ questions and encourages open exchanges.

This call will discuss any of the publicly available information related to the MacOS High Sierra update along with how to use Zoom.US. Zoom.us is a conferencing platform that is very accessible and easy to use. It offers participants the chance to call in by phone, computer, or smart phone apps.
This calls participation details are:

Thursday, September 14

1900 Central Time

(866) 820-9940

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Have you ever wondered what is possible through the various devices and apps available? Blind Vet Tech Tech Capabilities demonstrates how to fulfill a task through tech solutions. This inaugural post will list how one may redeem a movie code for iTunes only using an iPhone running iOS 11.

Open up Microsoft’s Seeing AI and set the channel to Short Text.

Scan the various pieces of paper inside the movie case until you find the insert with the redemption code.

In iOS 11, open up the camera app and scan the page. You do not need to take a picture, just wait for Voice Over to announce that a QR code was located

Swipe to the left or go to the top of the Camera app to find the redirection link, and tap on it.

This is an announcement for the Blind Vet Tech Monthly MacOS Talk for August 10. This call enables individuals to learn more about MacOS and how integrated features like Voice Over and Zoom may be applied to achieve computing goals. The session will be open for participants’ questions and encourages open exchanges.

This calls participation details are:

Thursday, August 10

1900 Central Time

(866) 820-9940

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Stay up to date with the latest news and announcements from the Blind Vet Tech team, by doing one of the following:

This is an announcement for the Blind Vet Tech Monthly Talk for July 20. We are focusing on recognition devices and apps. The call will start off with a review from Percy who uses both the Orcam and AIRA. This will be a great chance to learn what the difference truly is and which may achieve your goals. Terry will then cover other recognition apps, with a focus on Microsoft’s Seeing AI. We covered Seeing AI in our latest Blind Vet Tech podcast.

This calls participation details are:

Thursday, July 20

1900 Central Time

(866) 820-9940

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Stay up to date with the latest news and announcements from the Blind Vet Tech team, by doing one of the following:

This is an announcement for the Blind Vet Tech Monthly MacOS Talk for July13. This call enables individuals to learn more about MacOS and how integrated features like Voice Over and Zoom may be applied to achieve computing goals. The session will be open for participants’ questions and encourages open exchanges.

This calls participation details are:

Thursday, July 13

1900 Central Time

(866) 820-9940

Stay Informed

Stay up to date with the latest news and announcements from the Blind Vet Tech team, by doing one of the following:

This is an announcement for the Hines Alumni tech teleconferences for July. These are open forum discussions for Veterans with visual impairments to learn more and share their experiences related to tech. The Hines Alumni tech teleconferences will occur:

iDevices and GPS Users

Tuesday, July 4

1000 AM Central Time

(800) 767-1750, ext 44125

Windows Computer Users

Thursday, July 6

1000 AM Central Time

(800) 767-1750, ext 44125

If you have any difficulties entering the conference room, please dial 0 for the Operator.
The conference call will begin promptly at 1000 (10:00 a.m., and you are asked to start entering the conference room at 0950 (9:50 a.m.). The conference call will conclude at 1120 (11:20 a.m.). This is Central Standard Time.

Please direct your questions or answers to the Moderator of the call so the Moderator can properly identify you for the continuation of your questions/answers. You are asked to not speak over or interrupt a fellow Blinded Veteran who is providing a question or providing an answer to a question. Participants are asked to limit their questions to 2 and with time permitting at the end of the conference call, you may ask additional questions. You are also asked to do a star 6 to mute out any and all background noise, then if you have a question star 6 again and give your name to the recognized moderator.

Hines Alumni and Blind Not Alone compile and maintain this list of tech and assistive tech resources for visually impaired Veterans. Please send any corrections or additions through the Contact Us page.

Conference Calls

Blind Vet Tech Monthly Tech Talk meets the third Thursday of each month at 1900 Central Time

One on One Coaching

Hines Alumni and Blind Vet Tech are proud to offer on demand coaching sessions. If interested, send an email indicating what you wish to receive coaching on, your computer’s set up, and available times to presidentofThehinesalumni@gmail.com or info@blindnotalone.com. Both provide coaching and mentoring for using iPhones and iPads, while the Hines Alumni focus on Windows based computers and Blind Vet Tech on Apple MacOS computers.

If you are a VA Blind Rehab Services VIST or BROS interested in securing assessment or AT training for a Veteran, contact info@blindnotalone.com, for details about our VA contracting services or additional resources.

For an informal group discussion, we have a ‘virtual bar’ that meets on SKYPE. The group meets whenever the need arises. Any drinks from coffee to tequila are permitted.

Youtube

This is an announcement for the Blind Vet Tech Monthly Talk for June 15. June’s call will start off with a presentation and question and answer session with Amy from AIRA. AIRA, the visual interpreter for the blind, is a novel method to do anything from reading documents to walking around your community. AIRA consists of a headword camera with a earphone that enables a professional human assistant to guide you throughout your requested task. I have heard of Veterans using this for shopping, navigating convention settings, reading documents, and computer troubleshooting whenever JAWS fails. The second part of the call will feature a discussion about social networking and and any questions participants may have about safely diving into a social networking platform.

This calls participation details are:

Thursday, June 15

1900 Central Time

(866) 820-9940

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Stay up to date with the latest news and announcements from the Blind Vet Tech team, by doing one of the following:

Welcome to this installment of the Blind Vet Tech News Update. In this episode, Terry and I discuss the evolving accessibility culture filtering through Microsoft, our thoughts on Narrator as a stand alone screen reader, the accessibility and usability of One Note and other Microsoft Office products, and why machine learning to recognize objects and text excites us. The combination of these items truly demonstrates what happens when a company, like Microsoft, takes the stance to integrate universal design within its core beliefs.

The final segment quickly reviews machine learning and how its recognizing the world around us. As blindness tech advocates, these complex systems needs to be promoted by our community. Its up to us to share how machine learning to recognize objects works, what type of descriptions would benefit us, and dispel myths about computers rising up against us to take over the world.

Stay Informed

Stay up to date with the latest news and announcements from the Blind Vet Tech team, by doing one of the following:

This is an announcement for the Blind Vet Tech Monthly MacOS Talk for June 8. This call enables individuals to learn more about MacOS and how integrated features like Voice Over and Zoom may be applied to achieve computing goals. The session will be open for participants’ questions and encourages open exchanges.

This calls participation details are:

Thursday, June 8

1900 Central Time

(866) 820-9940

Stay Informed

Stay up to date with the latest news and announcements from the Blind Vet Tech team, by doing one of the following:

This is an announcement for the Blind Vet Tech Monthly Talk for May 18th. May’s call will start off with a discussion about Global Accessibility Awareness Day. The purpose of GAAD is to raise awareness about accessibility of our digital lives. Apple establishes a special segment in its app stores to highlight the best apps for individuals with disabilities. The second focus of our call will review the different ways one digital records meetings to quick notes. Fortunately one needs to only reach into their pocket and pull our their iOS device, Hims Blaze, or Victor Reader to capture the audio, so the possibilities on how, why, and what one uses is endless.

This calls participation details are:

Thursday, May 18

1900 Central Time

(866) 820-9940

Stay Informed

Stay up to date with the latest news and announcements from the Blind Vet Tech team, by doing one of the following:

This is an announcement for the Blind Vet Tech Monthly MacOS Talk for May 11. This call will enable participants the chance to discuss anything related to MacOS. Participation just requires one to use the below details.

Thursday, May 11

1900 Central Time

(866) 820-9940

Stay Informed

Stay up to date with the latest news and announcements from the Blind Vet Tech team, by doing one of the following:

This is an announcement for the Blind Vet Tech Monthly Talk for April 20. April’s call will focus on the different devices, apps, and other solutions to read digital documents. The VA’s blind rehab services often issue Veterans devices like the Victor Reader or Hims Blaze as one of the first stand alone blindness devices. These products enables one to listen to selections from NLS BARD, Bookshare, podcasts, and streaming internet radio. However, your iOS and Android possess these same capabilities through apps, like Voice Dream Reader, NLS BARD Mobile, TuneIn Radio, and Podcasts.

This calls participation details are:

Thursday, April 20

1900 Central Time

(866) 820-9940

Stay Informed

Stay up to date with the latest news and announcements from the Blind Vet Tech team, by doing one of the following:

This is an announcement for the Blind Vet Tech Monthly MacOS Talk for April 13th. We will start the call with a discussion on the latest updates to the MacOS and iWorks productivity suite. Afterwards the session will be open for many of your questions about our favorite OP, MacOS.

This calls participation details are:

Thursday, April 13

1900 Central Time

(866) 820-9940

Stay Informed

Stay up to date with the latest news and announcements from the Blind Vet Tech team, by doing one of the following:

This is an announcement for April’s Hines Blind Center Alumni tech related teleconferences. These are open forum discussions for Veterans with visual impairments to learn more and share their experiences related to tech. The Hines Blind Center Alumni tech teleconferences will occur:

iDevices and GPS Users

Tuesday, April 4th

1000 AM Central Time

(800) 767-1750, ext 44125

Windows Computer Users

Thursday, April 6th

1000 AM Central Time

(800) 767-1750, ext 44125

If you have any difficulties entering the conference room, please dial 0 for the Operator.
The conference call will begin promptly at 1000 (10:00 a.m., and you are asked to start entering the conference room at 0950 (9:50 a.m.). The conference call will conclude at 1120 (11:20 a.m.). This is Central Standard Time.
We will observe the Roberts Rules of Order. Please direct your question or answer to the Moderator of the call so the Moderator can properly identify you for the continuation of your question/answer. You are asked to not speak over or interrupt a fellow Blinded Veteran who is providing a question or providing an answer to a question. Participants are asked to limit their questions to 2 and with time permitting at the end of the conference call, you may ask additional questions. You are also asked to do a star 6 to mute out any and all background noise, then if you have a question star 6 again and give your name to the recognized moderator.

This is an announcement for the Blind Vet Tech Monthly Talk for March 16th. March’s talk will focus on office and productivity solutions for home and business usage. The two leading suites include Apple iWork’s, Pages, Numbers, Keynote, and Mail; and Microsoft Office 365, Word, Excel, Power Point, and Outlook.

The amazing part of the Apple iWorks suite stems from the deep integration with all MacOS and iOS devices. iCloud Drive ensures files and format synchronizes seamlessly. This allows you to start drafting a Pages document on your iPad, preform some formatting tweaks on your Mac, do a quick document check on your Windows computer through iCloud.com, and share the document through your iPhone. If you and a partner are both on a MacOS computer, then you can skip sending documents via email and collaborate in realtime, even as a Voice Over or Zoom user.

The only true competitor is Microsoft Office’s 365. Office 365 is a subscription b based office suite. No longer must you wait for updates, since Office 365 pushes all updates to you. Office 365 is the only true cross platform productivity suite, offering a very usable platform for Windows, MacOS, iOS, and Windows mobile devices. So imagine checking your Outlook mail on your iOS devices and receiving a .docx. You can open this up in Word, save it to One Drive, edit it on your Mac or Windows computer with Word, and share it through Outlook on your Surface. All of this is achievable with Voice Over, Zoom, Fusion, NVDA, Narrator, and any other windows based assistive tech software.

This calls participation details are:

Thursday, March 16th

1900 Central Time

(866) 820-9940

Stay Informed

Stay up to date with the latest news and announcements from the Blind Vet Tech team, by doing one of the following:

This is an announcement for the Blind Vet Tech Monthly MacOS Talk for March 9th. March’s talk will focus on office and productivity solutions for home and business usage. The two leading suites include Apple iWork’s, Pages, Numbers, Keynote, and Mail; and Microsoft Office 365, Word, Excel, Power Point, and Outlook. Both are fully accessible with Voice Over and Zoom, offering visually impaired individuals true choice.

This calls participation details are:

Thursday, March 9th

1900 Central Time

(866) 820-9940

Stay Informed

Stay up to date with the latest news and announcements from the Blind Vet Tech team, by doing one of the following:

Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act established the core accessibility requirements for electronic and digital informational technologies for Federal, state, and similar entities. Originally established in 1986, the regulations received only two updates. The 1998 update established requirements for items like federal and state websites, web-based services, and other items based on the type of technology. The href=”http://blindvettech.blindnotalone.com/tremendous-victory-for-digital-accessibility-advocates/”>Information and Communications Technologies Refresh redefined web accessibility requirements by adopting the Web Accessibility Initiative’s guidelines and reclassifying technology categories based on their function.

The Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) is a collective of industry leaders, disability advocates, and governmental representatives under the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). The aim is to establish a fluid set of accessibility guidelines for the world wide web and anything interacting with it. This becomes more important as devices, like smart phones, wearables, and VR/AR, change how we interact with not just the world wide web by the greater internet. Without a baseline set of accessibility recommendations, we as disabled consumers would be lost.

Both Section 508 and the WAI struggle in one area, what does accessibility and usability mean. Yes, something may be completely accessible but not usable, demonstrating the objective versus subjective nature of the debate. In the comment fields below, what does accessibility and usability mean to you?

The href=”http://blindvettech.blindnotalone.com/tremendous-victory-for-digital-accessibility-advocates/”>Information and Communications Technologies Refresh pulls these three items together and redefines Section 508, Section 255 of the communications act, and so much more. The US Access Board overseen this update, presenting the update in January 2017 with an publication date in March 2017. Federal and State entities have until January2018 to release their updated policies and bring their services into compliance.

Thank you for listening to the Blind Vet Tech News Update. The focus on Section 508, WAI, accessibility versus usability, and the ICT Refresh provided an overview of the accessibility menace in the evolving digital world.

Stay Informed

Stay up to date with the latest news and announcements from the Blind Vet Tech team, by doing one of the following:

This is an announcement for March’s Hines Blind Center Alumni tech related teleconferences. These are open forum discussions for Veterans with visual impairments to learn more and share their experiences related to tech. The Hines Blind Center Alumni tech teleconferences will occur:

iDevices and GPS Users

Tuesday, March 7th

1000 AM Central Time

(800) 767-1750, ext 44125

Windows Computer Users

Thursday, March 2nd

1000 AM Central Time

(800) 767-1750, ext 44125

If you have any difficulties entering the conference room, please dial 0 for the Operator.
The conference call will begin promptly at 1000 (10:00 a.m., and you are asked to start entering the conference room at 0950 (9:50 a.m.). The conference call will conclude at 1120 (11:20 a.m.). This is Central Standard Time.
We will observe the Roberts Rules of Order. Please direct your question or answer to the Moderator of the call so the Moderator can properly identify you for the continuation of your question/answer. You are asked to not speak over or interrupt a fellow Blinded Veteran who is providing a question or providing an answer to a question. Participants are asked to limit their questions to 2 and with time permitting at the end of the conference call, you may ask additional questions. You are also asked to do a star 6 to mute out any and all background noise, then if you have a question star 6 again and give your name to the recognized moderator.

This is an announcement for the Blind Vet Tech Monthly MacOS Talk for February 9th. February’s call will focus on how we each use cloud services. Apple’s iCloud, Microsoft’s One Drive, Google Drive, and Dropbox. Cloud services enables one to synchronize contacts, calendar events, notes, files, photos and so much more across your computers, smart phones, and tablets.

In addition, participants will be able to learn about how the new MacBook Pro’s Touch Bar improves my workflow.

This calls participation details are:

Thursday, February 9th

1900 Central Time

(866) 820-9940

Stay Informed

Stay up to date with the latest news and announcements from the Blind Vet Tech team, by doing one of the following:

This is an announcement for the Blind Vet Tech Monthly Tech Talk for February 16th. February’s call will focus on how we each use cloud services. Apple’s iCloud, Microsoft’s One Drive, Google Drive, and Dropbox. Cloud services enables one to synchronize contacts, calendar events, notes, files, photos and so much more across your computers, smart phones, and tablets. Even if you do not directly use cloud services, you might indirectly benefit from cloud computing. For example Serotek’s DocuScan Plus OCR’s documents through the cloud while many electronic health records are stored on cloud systems.

This calls participation details are:

Thursday, February 16th

1900 Central Time

(866) 820-9940

Stay Informed

Stay up to date with the latest news and announcements from the Blind Vet Tech team, by doing one of the following: